Device for locating sunken boats



ilwrrn rrns ATENT rricn.

DE VlCE FOR LOCATING SUNKEN BOATS.

m SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,548, dated March 23, 1897.

Application filed June 25, 1895. Serial No. 554,052. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT H. PIERCE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hillsdalefcounty of Hillsdale, and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Device for Locating Sunken Boats or'Vessels and for Raising or Recovering the Same or Portions Thereof, a description of which is fully set forth in the following specification.

The object of my invention is to make a device for locating sunken boats and recovering the same or things thereon. that shall be both easy of construction and certain in operation.

Figure 1 is a view of my device on a boat that has gone to the bottom. Fig. 2 is a view of the cone-shaped eye. Fig. 3 is a view of the grappling clamp and ring. Fig. at in the upper part is a view of the grappling-clamp as being run down the cable. In the lower part, dotted lines, is a view of the grappling clamp and ring in place on the cone-shaped eye.

For the purpose of locating the place of the sunken boat or vessel the signal, which may be the buoy A or balloon A, Fig. 1, is used. The buoy is made in any desired form and size and of such material as will cause it to rise and float on the surface of the water if the boat or vessel should sink. is used, it is made in any desired form and size and of such material and-inflated with such substance as will cause it to rise above the surface of the water in case the boat or vessel should 's'iiiki The rope'BfFig. 1, is used to connect the -buoy A or balloon A with the boat or vessel,

and serves also another purpose, as will appear farther on.

The cone-shaped eye 0, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, is made as follows: The cone has an orifice through it, through which the rope Bis to pass from the reel E, Fig. 1. The base of the cone is concave, and from the center of the base of the cone a stem projects,'whic h is fastened to the boat or vessel or anything thereon that is to be. recovered. In this stem projecting from the base of the cone is a balland-socket joint I, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, to admit of its being adjusted to a vertical If a balloon position. The grappling-clamp F, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4:, is made cone-shaped, of two pivotally-connected jaws convex on the outside"and concave on the inside, fastened together at the top or apex and with a heavy flange on the inside at the base, and a heavy cable of any desired length and strength is also fastened at the top or apex. The ring G, as shown in Fig. 3 and in dotted lines in Fig. 4, is made to fit over the jaws of the grappling-clamp F and hold them firmly in place.

Having described the construction of the different parts of my device, I will now describe the operation.

The cone-shaped eye 0, Fig. 1, is fastened to the boat or vessel or anything thereon that is to be recovered. The free end of the rope on the reel E is then threaded up through the cone-shaped eye 0 and fastened to the buoy A or balloon A, which are so placed as to readily rise to the surface if the boat or vessel should sink. This forms the signal part of iny idevicefor locating. the place of the sunken boat or vessel and is shown in Fig. 1 F0r recovering the beater vesseior thing tdwhich the cone-shaped eye G is fastened the signal is taken from the rope B and the grappling-clamp F is threaded onto it and run down over the cone-shaped eye 0, the flange at the base of the jaws of the clamp F clasping over the base of the cone-shaped eye 0. The ring G is then threaded onto the rope B and the cable 11 and run down onto the jaws of the grapplingclainp F, which holds them firmly in place and is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4.

Having described the construction of the different parts of my invention'and their operation, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is In an apparatus for locating or recovering sunken boats, the combination of the shouldered cone-shaped eye 0 having an orifice through it, said cone-shaped eye being fastened to the boat, the rope 13, passed up through said orifice, a signal attached to said rope and adapted to rise to or above the surface of the water, a grappling-clamp F havv ing two pivotally-connected jaws each having a heavy flange 0n the inside of its base, tached to the ring at the top of the grapplingsaid clamp being adapted to be run down on clamp, substantially as described. the rope and engage the shoulder of the coneshaped eye, the ring G also being adapted to ALBERP PIERCE 5 be run down on the ropes B and H and onto Witnesses;

the grappling-clamp to hold the jaws of the LESTER A. GOODRICH,

clamp firmly in place, and the cable H at- GEO. R. DAVIS. 

